In an exclusive interview with Comic Book Resources, artist George Pérez revealed that he has signed an exclusive contract with Los Angeles-based BOOM! Studios, publisher of titles such as Mike Carey’s Suicide Risk, Steven Grant’s 2 Guns, Paul Jenkins’ Deathmatch, and the breakout-hit licensed comic Adventure Time.

On the seeming trend of industry veterans doing more creator-owned comics work:

Many of the [DC and Marvel] characters I grew up with were turning into strangers whose adventures were determined by factors that had less and less to do with what made a good comic story and more to do with how these properties can be exploited for other purposes. There’s nothing wrong with that, I guess, but not something that I felt was particularly satisfying for me as a storyteller.

On why he decided to sign on with BOOM! Studios:

[BOOM! Studios] offered me a chance to work on something I wanted to do, something they hoped would rekindle the creative spark that I felt was being squelched these past few years. I was also offered something that was a bit unique—an employment contract, meaning I would actually receive all benefits of being an employee with tax withholding and medical benefits. To be fair, I was receiving medical benefits at the Big Two as well, but it was frightfully expensive and required full exclusivity. BOOM!’s package is a little more flexible regarding exclusivity—and a good deal cheaper.

This isn’t the first time Pérez has been public in his criticism of the current creative direction of the “Big Two,” particularly that of DC’s. Readers will remember the fan-favorite, award-winning artist voicing his frustrations last year about the editorial work-process at DC during the 2012 WGBS Superman Celebration event, stating that he declined his role as Superman‘s writer-artist after just six issues because

… I was made certain promises, and unfortunately not through any fault of Dan Didio, he was no longer the last word, [there were a] lot of people making decisions, going against each other, contradicting [each other], again in mid-story. The people who love my Superman arc, I thank you. What you read, I don’t know. After I wrote it… I told them, ‘Here’s my script, if you change it, that’s your prerogative, don’t tell me. Don’t ask me to edit it, don’t ask me to correct it, I don’t want to change something that you’re going to change again if you disagree… ‘

I didn’t mind the changes in Superman, I just wish it was the same decision issue 1 or issue 2, and I had to keep rewriting things because another person changed their mind, and that was a lot tougher, it wasn’t the same as doing Wonder Woman, I was given a full year to get Wonder Woman established before it was folded into the DC Universe properly, I had a wonderful editor Karen Berger who ran shotgun for me. They wanted me to recreate what I did on Wonder Woman, but it’s not the same age, not the same atmosphere, I couldn’t do it any more, and the writer who replaced me, Keith Giffen, was very nice. I’ve known Keith since we both started in the industry, he called me up when they asked him to do Superman to make sure I wasn’t being fired off Superman. And regrettably, I did have to tell him that I couldn’t wait to get off Superman. It was not the experience I wanted it to be.

[…] combo on Uncanny X-Men), Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, Avengers, and JLA/Avengers—had recently signed a selectively-exclusive contract with BOOM! Studios, citing dissatisfaction with how Marvel and DC currently manage their books as well as a better […]

[…] “free agent signings.” And like Jenkins, the fan-favorite New Teen Titans and Avengers artist had quite a bit to say about the current creative environment at DC and Marvel on his way to signing a staff artist […]